


For How Long I Loved My Lover? (Put Your Faith In My Stomach)

by joidianne4eva



Series: Halloween Prompts [2]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Implied Cannibalism, M/M, Wendigo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 12:16:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2387951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Are you scared of me, Mickey?”</p><p>Ian’s voice was a cool rasp and Mickey had to swallow past the lump in his throat before he could respond. </p><p>“You look like a fucking Halloween display, so what do you think?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	For How Long I Loved My Lover? (Put Your Faith In My Stomach)

**Author's Note:**

> For the Shameless Halloween collection and the wendigo week over on http://ushobwri.livejournal.com/
> 
> Not beta'd.
> 
> Also I'm still not sure what a wendigo actually looks like.

If there was one universal truth in Southside it was that the Gallagher family was freaky as fuck.

Mickey had never actually interacted with any of them but he didn’t need to to know that they weren’t people to be fucked with…Tony had learned that shit the hard way when he’d tried to grope the oldest one.

Mickey didn’t know what the girl had done to Tony but his brother had slept with the light on for weeks after that one.

The point was Mickey, much like the rest of Southside, gave the Gallaghers a wide berth…a berth that grew even wider after Frank Gallagher went missing.

It really didn’t explain why one of them was stalking him.

*O*

The first time Mickey caught sight of the kid he’d been walking Mandy home.

She’d stopped to tie her shoelace when a flash of red caught Mickey’s eye and he turned just in time to see the curtains of the Gallagher house twitch shut.

He didn’t say anything to Mandy about it because the last thing he needed was for her to freak out but he did keep a closer eye on the house than he had before.

*O*

The second time Mickey saw the kid he’d been on a run for Terry.

The shithead he was supposed to collect from hadn’t been too happy about forking over the cash and Mickey had the busted lip to show for it.

Mickey made sure that Oliver regretted that shit but it didn’t make his face hurt any less.

All he wanted was to get home and go back to fucking bed.

“Do you know you’re bleeding?”

Mickey froze, his eyes darting to the shadows of the alleyway he was passing.

The kid wasn’t hard to spot, not with hair that red.

“Really? I never would’ve fucking guessed,” Mickey spat.

The kid just shrugged, straightening from where he’d been slumped against the wall and Mickey fought the urge to take a step back when he recognized him.

“You’re one of Frank’s brats, right?”

“The name’s Ian,” the redhead responded and now that he was in the light Mickey could see that he was older than he’d initially guessed.

“Didn’t fucking ask for your name, did I?” Mickey spat.

Ian just grinned before tossing something Mickey’s way and Mickey caught it purely on a reflex. Glancing down at the thing he frowned when he realized that it was a switchblade.

“Next time try to protect your face, Mickey,” Ian called back after him as he slipped into the alley he’d been waiting by.

It wasn’t until Mickey got home that he realized that there was blood on the blade.

It was much later that he remembered that he’d never told Ian his name.

*O*

Mickey had a reputation at school which meant that most people tended to avoid him but he’d never been able to have kids scattering like fucking idiots like the Gallaghers so he wasn’t surprised to see the crowds start parting like the red sea when he caught sight of Ian heading his way.

“You stalking me, Gallagher?”

Ian pursed his lips as he leaned against the locker beside Mickey’s. “I dunno, should I be?”

Mickey turned to face Ian with more bravado than he felt. “Depends on what you want.”

Ian shrugged and Mickey was pretty sure that the kid was younger than him but even slouched Ian still managed to be taller than him.

Mickey would’ve been a liar if he didn’t admit that he found the height difference hot.

“Just checking if you liked my gift,” Ian responded, his eyes tracking one of the idiots that decided to linger a bit too close and the kid hightailed it.

Mickey wrinkled his nose. “The knife’s a fucking beast. You could’ve cleaned it better though,”

Ian smirked as he stretched, sending his shirt riding up a bit. “Why would I when that was part of the gift?”

Mickey’s eyes narrowed at that. “Who’s it from?” he demanded because the last thing he needed was to be holding onto something that could link him to a crime.

Ian paused for a second like he was about to respond but then his head snapped around and Mickey followed his gaze to where the kid’s older brother was watching them.

Ian cocked his head to the side before grinning at Lip.

“Gotta go,” he muttered as he straightened but Mickey grabbed his wrist, ignoring the coolness of the skin beneath his palm.

“Whose fucking blood is it?”

Ian’s eyes darkened and the way that his tongue flickered out to wet his upper lip made heat coil in Mickey’s gut.

“Nobody that you cared about but I’m sure you can figure it out if you think hard enough,” Ian responded before pulling away and Mickey watched him jog towards Lip.

For a second when Ian glanced back at him Mickey could have sworn that he saw the shadows around the kid twist until it looked like there were antlers growing out of his hair but then Mickey blinked and Ian was gone.

It didn’t take Mickey long to notice that he hadn’t seen Oliver since the night he’d busted Mickey’s lip.

*O*

Mickey cornered Tony as soon as he got home.

“What the fuck did Fiona Gallagher do to you when we were kids?”

Tony’s eyes widened for a split second before he managed to get his expression under control.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered and when Mickey opened his mouth to ask again Tony glared at him. “You don’t fucking want to know, ok? Just…stay away from the Gallaghers,” Tony growled before storming out of the house.

Mickey bit his lip as he slipped his hand into his pocket and ran his fingers over the cool metal of the knife that Ian had given him.

He knew that Tony was right, the Gallagher kids had never been pinned to anything but there wasn’t a single person who didn’t think that they’d offed their parents but no matter how Mickey tried he couldn’t get Ian out of his head.

*O*

“Hey, Mickey,”

Mickey didn’t even glance up at Ian’s voice, waiting instead until the kid sat down beside him before offering him any attention at all.

The baseball field was Mickey’s safe haven for whenever Terry was on the tear. Usually his dad was too drunk to do much damage but this time Mickey hadn’t gotten out of the way fast enough.

“What do you want, Gallagher?”

Ian’s lips twisted as he looked Mickey over, “Nothing, just figured you’d like the company.”

Mickey shrugged and settled back against the stands.

He did like the company but he wasn’t going to admit that.

Mickey let the silence stretch on for a moment, “So you gonna tell me what happened to Oliver?” he finally asked.

Ian hummed, pressing a finger to his lip as he made a show of thinking the question over. “Oliver? Don’t think I know an Oliver,” he grinned, bumping Mickey’s shoulder.

Mickey stared at him, “You’re fucking weird, you know that?”

Ian just smirked and neither of them mentioned the fact that their fingers were almost brushing where they rested on the seat between them.

*O*

Mickey had known Ian for three months when everything went to hell and he had nobody to blame but himself.

Despite the fact that they were unofficially friends, Ian had never pushed things between them and Mickey was glad for it because while he knew he was attracted to Ian he really didn’t want to fuck up what they had.

It didn’t matter though because whatever they had between them was apparently too fag-like for Terry, added to the gay porn that he’d found in Mickey’s room and Terry had gone off like a bomb.

Mickey hadn’t even expected the attack, the only thing he remembered was the fire blazing across his temple and through his ribs. After that everything was splotches of images. Terry’s face over his as his dad yelled something at him. Ian’s voice somewhere in the background and then there was nothing but darkness.

*O*

When Mickey woke he was in an unfamiliar room and every inch of him hurt. He wasn’t a stranger to pain though so he could ignore that. He was more concerned about where the fuck he was and more specifically where Terry was.

“Hey, sleeping beauty,”

Mickey twisted his head towards Ian’s voice, blinking at the harsh light that illuminated the redhead’s frame.

“Gallagher?” he croaked, moving to sit up but Ian’s hands against his shoulders kept him from moving.

“Whoa, no, no moving. Fiona thinks your dad broke something and the last thing you need is to add to that,” Ian warned and Mickey subsided.

He was still confused as fuck but Ian had never led him astray…well no more than usual.

“Where am I?” he asked, trying to distract himself from the dull ache radiating from his side. Fiona had been right; Terry had definitely cracked a few of his ribs.

Ian grinned, “You’re at my house, I couldn’t exactly leave you back there.”

Something cold settled deep in Mickey’s stomach at the thought of being inside the Gallagher house but he tried to keep his feelings off his face.

“How’d you find me?”

Ian blinked slowly like he was thinking the question over before he shrugged. “I always know when you’re in trouble,” he admitted after a long moment and Mickey frowned but before he could say anything Ian was settling himself on the bed beside him.

Mickey held completely still as cool fingers brushed across his face. Ian had never touched him like this, never crossed that barrier between friend and something else and Mickey wasn’t sure how to react to it but Ian didn’t seem to share his hesitation because the other teen’s fingers slipped down Mickey’s neck to brush against the scar on his collarbone.

“I remember this one, you fell off the monkey bars when Tony snuck off to buy some weed,” Ian’s eyes narrowed as he spread his fingers across a spot just below Mickey’s ribs, keeping the touch so light that it Mickey wasn’t watching him he wouldn’t have felt it. “You’ve got a scar right here from the time you got stabbed when you were fourteen…”

“Gallagher,” Mickey started because Ian was starting to fucking scare him but the redhead wasn’t done, his voice growing louder as he moved his hand to Mickey’s leg.

“You broke your leg twice when you were fifteen and you keep telling people that you tripped over Mandy’s girly shit because you won’t tell anyone that your own Dad took a baseball bat to you,” Ian paused, his eyes flickering up to meet Mickey’s, “How long did he stay away after that one? Three days, before he figured that you’d forget about it, right?”

“Ian, you’re fucking freaking me out,” Mickey whispered as he clutched at Ian’s fingers.

He couldn’t get over how cold Ian’s skin was.

“Frank used to hit me too, you know? He figured it was alright because none of us said anything about it and Monica was always gone but we fixed that,”

The light illuminating Ian’s face dimmed for a second and Mickey’s breath shuddered from his chest as something shifted beneath the skin at Ian’s temples.

“Where’s Terry, Ian?”

Ian shook his head as he leaned forward, pressing his nose against the junction between Mickey’s neck and shoulder.

Ian’s breath was warm against his skin and Mickey shuddered as he watched Ian’s hair part, giving way to the antlers that he’d managed to convince himself that he hadn’t actually seen before.

“He doesn’t deserve you, none of them do,” Ian whispered and despite the fact that Mickey’s heart was thundering in his chest, he could hear the desperation in the Ian’s tone.

Inhaling slowly Mickey pressed a hand to Ian’s hair and the broken sound that the move tore from the redhead made Mickey shake but he kept his hand there.

“Terry’s not coming back is he?” Mickey asked and Ian made the sound again, it was like a cross between a bray and a whimper, as he shook his head. “They gonna find a body?”

Ian shook his head again and Mickey exhaled slowly as he considered his options. Ian had all but admitted to killing Mickey’s dad but Terry had been a bastard anyway. Fuck it; if Mickey had gotten the chance he probably would have offed the fucker himself.

“Alright, get the fuck off of me cause you weigh a ton without that shit growing out of your head and breathing’s kinda hard right now,” Mickey groused, shoving at Ian’s shoulders.

Ian’s head came up and Mickey tried not to stare at the kid but it was hard.

The antlers looked like naked trees planted into Ian’s skull, leaving a pale expanse of exposed bone that curved like roots towards the redhead’s eyebrows. His eyes were bigger like this but there was no white just a uniform darkness that made Mickey feel like he was staring into a pit.

“Are you scared of me, Mickey?”

Ian’s voice was a cool rasp and Mickey had to swallow past the lump in his throat before he could respond.

“You look like a fucking Halloween display, so what do you think?”

Ian’s lips curled upwards as he leaned forwards until their lips were brushing and Mickey could hear the tips of his antlers scrapping against the wall.

“Don’t be scared of me, I just want you to be happy, that’s all I’ve ever wanted, is that so bad?”

Mickey closed his eyes as Ian pressed their lips together and when a cool tongue flickered out to wet his lips, Mickey pretended he couldn’t taste the blood it left behind.

As Ian pulled back Mickey couldn’t help but think that maybe Ian was right, he fucking deserved to be happy, no matter what.


End file.
